Is there an RSS Feed with Patch/Release notes ?

+DS_DV+ · Oct 6, 2024, 1:05 PM

Hi lovely community (:
from other OS like TrueNAS OPNsense Proxmox etc i have RSS Feeds which publish the change logs when a new Update is out.

So you can subscribe to the RSS feed of the products you use and are always up to date on changes (:

tl;dr: is there a RSS feed for pfSense Ppatch notes?

with kind regards

Gertjan · Oct 7, 2024, 7:27 AM

@DS_DV said in Is there an RSS Feed with Patch/Release notes ?:

tl;dr: is there a RSS feed for pfSense Ppatch notes?

This one :

?
Normally, after install, it's there.
You can re arrange the dashboard widgets so it is, on the top.

or visit https://www.netgate.com/blog/tag/pfsense yourself.

+DS_DV+ · Oct 7, 2024, 7:43 AM

@Gertjan this is "just" the RSS feed for the announcement forums
but its full of news as well.

I am looking for an rss feed which just holds patchnotes and therefor gives notifications when updates are out

Gertjan · Oct 7, 2024, 7:55 AM

@DS_DV said in Is there an RSS Feed with Patch/Release notes ?:

which just holds patchnotes and therefor gives notifications when updates are out

Ah, ok. Imho, there no such thing.
But, close : official patches are included in :

so if this package shows that it can be upgraded, you'll know that there are some patches.

+DS_DV+ · Oct 7, 2024, 8:20 AM

@Gertjan but i dont want to look every day or hour into my firewall :D
RSS feeds can be grabed by RSS readers. (Mobile or on Desktop) Most of them cen even send push notifications ;)

Gertjan · Oct 7, 2024, 9:05 AM

@DS_DV said in Is there an RSS Feed with Patch/Release notes ?:

but i dont want to look every day or hour into my firewall :D

Me neither

That's why I use this.

Btw : very AFAIK and IMHO : there are no "zero day - need to interact with pfSense right now - situations". I've not seen them the last decade (and more).
So, check up with your firewall ones a week, or month, and see what's up.
This forum will also show any possible issue.

bobleny · Feb 4, 2025, 4:39 AM

So, yeah I've been stuck on 2.7.0 forever now. I kept checking for updates but the dashboard kept saying there was none.
I was annoyed by this, but trusted the dash board anyways. I finally decided I couldn't trust it and found out 2.7.2 is the latest. Yay...

So now I am adding the blog to my RSS reader app so I can get notifications when there are updates...
The rss feed url is here: https://www.netgate.com/blog/rss.xml
If your RSS reader can filter by categories/tags, you can use the category/tag "releases" to filter some of the noise and just focus on releases. Unfortunately it still includes a lot of noise (e.g. "The 4-core Intel Atom C1110 Processor: Not your Father's Atom"). See: https://www.netgate.com/blog/tag/releases

I too would really like an RSS feed specific to releases, patches, and security issues, ideally fore each software package (e.g. CE, Plus, whatever TNSR is, etc...).

I really try to be grateful; we are getting some amazing software for free, but things like this can be incredibly irksome.
Is it my fault for trusting the system to tell me that I was running a version that was out of date for over a year (maybe... but I'm still not happy about it)?

Gertjan · Feb 4, 2025, 7:11 AM

@bobleny said in Is there an RSS Feed with Patch/Release notes ?:

Unfortunately it still includes a lot of noise (

Noise ? .. .If you wait some years, yeah ...

Upgrade first to the latest, 2.7.2, already more then one year old.
When done, install this package :

and apply all the proposed patches.

Then install :

and read this : Auto update check, checks for updates to base system + packages and sends email alerts.

Set up a email notification here : System > Advanced > Notifications
For example :

and from now on, whenever there is a pfSense upgrade - or a pfSense package upgrade - or a pfSense FreeBSD package avaible for updating / upgrading, you get a mail.

stephenw10 · Feb 4, 2025, 4:03 PM

There's a specific known bug in 2.7.0 that prevents it seeing updates. Run: certctl rehash and it will see them again and allow you update.

+DS_DV+ · Feb 4, 2025, 4:21 PM

@stephenw10 said in Is there an RSS Feed with Patch/Release notes ?:

There's a specific known bug in 2.7.0 that prevents it seeing updates. Run: certctl rehash and it will see them again and allow you update.

that's a thing an update rss feed could inform about (:
and its the reason after so many attempts to switch i did stuck with opnsense in the end.

its all good and tendy if pfsense is so much faster with patches and updates but the work needed to keep up is just too much for me compared to opnsense fire and forget until you get news in the feed to react. (tho the ux played a huge part too why i never really completed a migration attemt) :(

bobleny · Feb 6, 2025, 6:45 PM

@Gertjan said in Is there an RSS Feed with Patch/Release notes ?:

and apply all the proposed patches.

Thank you for this, I didn't know this existed (though if I followed the blog a little closer I would have: https://www.netgate.com/blog/using-pfsense-software-system-patches).
It doesn't look like these are announced in the blog anywhere? Are they announced anywhere else, or do we have to check for them periodically in the admin panel?

@Gertjan said in Is there an RSS Feed with Patch/Release notes ?:

and read this : Auto update check, checks for updates to base system + packages and sends email alerts.

I knew this existed but it seemed easier to just check the panel occasionally, that is until the panel stopped working...
Even then, I don't imagine this would have alerted me to the 2.7.1 update anyways, but sense it can monitor for new packages, I suppose it may be worth the trouble...

Having a dedicated RSS feed that exists independently and outside of the system to provide update announcements and security alerts is still a good thing though. I have a few feeds that I follow for sysadmin stuff. Even though most security updates are applied automatically, if it is critical or effects one of my servers, I will make sure it was applied ASAP.

Gertjan · Feb 7, 2025, 6:43 AM

@bobleny said in Is there an RSS Feed with Patch/Release notes ?:

Are they announced anywhere else

Here Netgate blogs and pick one.
Or a RSS reader on your phone - never tried that myself ?
Or, somewhat related : [this](Auto update check, checks for updates to base system + packages and sends email alerts) - and this I'm using for years now, works perfect.